NBC’s hottest sophomore show, Community (starring Joel McHale and an array of ringers, including Chevy Chase, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, and Ken Jeong), returns today, September 23rd at 8 p.m. EST. Well, actually, that’s when the show airs on NBC–the technical premiere will be an hour earlier, and conducted entirely in 140-characters-or-less exchanges.

At 7 p.m. EST, an hour before the show’s television premiere, there will be what NBC is groaningly calling a “Twittersode.” The Twittersode is basically a prequel, one scene that takes place before the characters actually return to Greendale Community College for their sophomore year, which will be depicted in the premiere episode. The prequel scene will be conducted solely on Twitter, through accounts set up under the names of all the main characters, including @anniesB00bs.

It’s a pretty shameless way to promote the show, true, but Community is a pretty great show, one in which absurd one-liners reign—perfect for Twitter—and the idea is relatively groundbreaking. You can check out the list of Twitter accounts to follow over at Entertainment Weekly.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in Brooklyn (no link for that one–you’ll have to do the legwork yourself).